Virginia 9th District Congressman Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said Friday the budget deal overwhelmingly passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday is a move in the right direction.

Griffith said the budget agreement that passed by a House vote of 332-94 “is a compromise. It is not perfect, nor does (it) contain everything I would like. But it is on the right track.”

The budget deal keeps spending levels within previously passed budgets approved in the Republican-controlled House that got nowhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate, but Griffith said the bipartisan agreement “will be the first time since I was elected to the House of Representatives that Congress — both the House and the Senate — has passed a budget.”

Griffith said the agreement “could have been stronger. But in light of the fact that the Senate is controlled by Democrats, this is the best deal possible. Both the Democrats and the Republicans worked together to reach this compromise.”

Critics on both ends of the political spectrum have slammed the budget. Griffith said that’s the nature of compromise.

“Neither political party loved the bill,” he said. “As I learned (when serving in the Virginia) House of Delegates, when both sides don’t love a compromise bill, it is probably a fair compromise.”

Griffith said the bill includes a three-month extension of programs to help rural hospitals and seniors, specifically “the Sustainable Growth Rate fix and Medicare dependent and low-volume hospital” programs.

While Griffith said the budget deal is “not perfect ... I remain of the belief that out-of-control federal spending must be checked in order to avoid further burdening future generations of Americans with excessive debt, and will continue working to decrease our deficits and our debt.”